Up Knock Hill

Earlier this month, when the famously fickle Scottish weather granted us a few days of unfettered sunshine, [m] and I took the opportunity for a Sunday trip to Largs. Located on the west coast of Scotland, or more precisely, on the Firth of Clyde, Largs is just an hour by train from Glasgow, making it

d a f f o d i l s

This week, I have been walking to work alongside this wonderful explosion of spring gorgeousness. Every day, new flowers have been appearing alongside the streets and have been turning their faces towards the Glaswegian sun (yes, such a thing exists despite the city’s fondness for rain and storms). I seem to have longed for colour and the arrival of

Walking in Surrey

It has been noted by a friend of ours that most of my recent posts – and I use the term recent in the loosest of senses – have been about graveyards. So you probably won’t be surprised to learn that our recent excursion into Surrey saw us visiting two nice country cemeteries as well.

Summer Relaxation [and Some Knitting]

Over the last months, I have spent quite some time on the peaceful island which is the garden of my South London home, trying to squeeze yet another PhD chapter out of my confused and tired brain. Writing was [and is] particularly difficult this time, which I guess has to do with the fact that the project is

A Walk by the Canal

Here in Vienna, we haven’t really had a proper winter this year. But despite the lack of frost and snow, we just had a few months of cold-ish, grey-ish weather, so it’s still really nice that spring seems to have arrived, bringing warmth and sunshine. A few days ago, I therefore decided to take a late-afternoon stroll

Summer [in the rear view mirror]

Once again, it’s the time of year around here where you begin to wonder: Where did the summer go? Well, I don’t have an answer to that question, but what I can give you is a slightly delayed account of where we went in summer… First we went to Switzerland to look at some art,

Déjà-vu (with extra dandelions)

Last Thursday was a holiday here in Austria, and since it was warm and sunny I took the opportunity to go for a walk in the Wienerwald, the hilly forestland around Vienna. My route lead me to the remains of Araburg Castle which was first built in the 12th century and continuously extended over the course

The Pier, the Lighthouse and the Sea

Last weekend, the weather here on the Isles finally also took a turn for the better, and I took advantage of that and decided to escape the city for the day. Together with my friend [a], I took an early-morning train from London Victoria and headed south, towards Eastbourne: After exploring the beautiful Victorian pier

Seriously? Snow?!

I know I’ve said it before, but I really love autumn, the time of year when the sky goes all grey and sombre but the colours on trees and bushes and suchlike just seem to go into overdrive… This year, though, here in Vienna we were in for something of a special visual treat, the

Exmoor by the book

So, we promised you’d see/read more from our trip to Exmoor National Park in September and, finally, here we go… In a way, our first stop on the way to Exmoor was at Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street, London, back in July, long before the actual trip. Daunt is notable for preserving its beautiful